Alves et al.

Lipids in Health and Disease 2011, 10:148

http://www.lipidworld.com/content/10/1/148

HYPOTHESIS Open Access

Obesity, diabetes and OSAS induce of sleep

disorders: Exercise as therapy
Eduardo S Alves2, Fabio S Lira1,2, Ronaldo VT Santos2,3, Sergio Tufik1 and Marco T de Mello1,2*

Abstract
Sleep is an integral part of good health. Sleep disorders and variations in sleep habits are associated with a low-
grade inflammatory status, which may be either a cause or consequence of other conditions, including obesity,
diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Several strategies are available to counteract these conditions including
continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), pharmacological and nutritional interventions, and even surgery. At
present, our group is investigating the effect of chronic endurance exercise on sleep alterations.

Hypothesis Our group has previously demonstrated the effects of

Sleep deprivation is a common phenomenon in todays
society. Over the last 50 years, daily sleep duration in
adolescents and adults decreased by 1.5-2 hours, and
more than 30% of Americans between the ages of 30 to
64 years old report less than 6 hours of sleep per night
[1]. Moreover, the quality of sleep decreases with age
[2]. In addition, the prevalence of obstructive sleep
apnea syndrome (OSAS), obesity, and cardiovascular
and metabolic disease are increasing [3]. This is relevant
because epidemiological studies report a positive corre-
lation between decreased sleep time and increases in
body mass index and diabetes prevalence [4,5].
OSAS is a common disorder characterized by repeti-
tive episodes of partial or complete obstruction of the
upper airway during sleep and increased respiratory
effort. This syndrome can lead to the development of
obesity and diabetes [6,7].
Different strategies are utilized to counteract OSAS,
obesity and diabetes [8]. CPAP treatment exerts a bene-
ficial effect on glucose metabolism and insulin resistance
in people with OSAS [9]. However, when CPAP usage
ceases the positive effects are abolished. Others thera-
pies, such as drugs to aid weight loss and normalize
insulin are often used to treat obesity and diabetes,
respectively. Although these approaches target individual
problems, we hypothesize that chronic endurance exer-
cise may be an effective treatment for all three
conditions.
* Correspondence: tmello@demello.net.br
1
Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de So Paulo, Brazil
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
acute and chronic exercise on sleep in both humans and
rats [[10-12], unpublished]. Exercise training improves
outcomes, including total adipose tissue and diabetes,
and may ameliorate OSAS.
Confirming our hypothesis, Figure 1 shows that com-
pared with conventional therapies, exercise training is a
more effective strategy for counteracting OSAS, obesity
and diabetes involved in the development of sleep disor-
ders. However, additional studies are needed to elucidate
the mechanism(s) of how exercise training improves
sleep quality.
Author details
1
Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de So Paulo, Brazil.
2
Centro de Estudos em Psicobiologia e Exerccio - CEPE, So Paulo, Brazil.
3
Departamento de Biocincias, Universidade Federal de So Paulo, Campus
Baixada Santista, Brazil.
Received: 10 June 2011 Accepted: 23 August 2011
Published: 23 August 2011
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2011 Alves et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
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Alves et al. Lipids in Health and Disease 2011, 10:148 Page 2 of 2
http://www.lipidworld.com/content/10/1/148

Figure 1 Exercise training compared with conventional therapies for counteracting OSAS, obesity and diabetes involved in the
development of sleep disorders.

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